Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a one-off wealth tax on individual wealth above £10 million.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Government is committed to a fair tax system where those with the most contribute the most. This is why the Government has taken steps to ensure the wealthy pay their fair share by reforming the taxation of dividends, pensions, and business disposals to make the tax system fairer and more sustainable.
The Government has also ensured the wealthy pay the tax that is owed. In 2019-20, HMRC secured £2.2 billion in tax from the wealthiest individuals that would have otherwise gone unpaid.
The UK does not have a single wealth tax, but it does have several taxes on assets and wealth. The UK taxes assets and wealth across many different economic activities, including the acquisition, holding, transfer and disposal of assets, and income derived from assets.
Notably, the Wealth Tax Commission, which has no connection or link to the Government, found in 2020 that if considering Inheritance Tax, Capital Gains Tax, Stamp Duty, and Stamp Duty Land Tax, the UK is among the top of the G7 countries for wealth taxes as a percentage of total wealth.
It is also clear that the Wealth Tax Commission’s suggestion of a potential one-off wealth tax in the UK would be a complex undertaking, and the amount of revenue raised would be highly dependent on the final design of the tax.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the total North Sea oil and gas receipts to Treasury was in (a) 2019-20, (b) 2020-21 and (c) 2021-22; what the estimated total North Sea oil and gas receipts to the Treasury in (i) 2022-23, (ii) 2023-24, and (iii) 2024-25; and what estimate he has made of the total revenues of North Sea oil and gas companies in each of those years.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Forecasts for government revenues from oil and gas production are provided by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR). Their most recent published forecast, provided for Spring Statement 2022 on 23 March, is available on the OBR website at https://obr.uk/efo/economic-and-fiscal-outlook-march-2022/.
Government revenues received from North Sea oil and gas operators between 1968 to 1969 and 2020 to 2021 are presented in Table 2 of HM Revenue & Custom’s (HMRC) “Statistics of government revenues from UK oil and gas production” publication, available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/government-revenues-from-uk-oil-and-gas-production--2
Data for 2021 to 2022 onwards can be found in the “HMRC tax receipts and National Insurance contributions for the UK” tables, also available at
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/hmrc-tax-and-nics-receipts-for-the-uk
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the number of people who are receiving less than the minimum wage while on furlough due to the covid-19 outbreak in (a) Leeds, (b) Yorkshire and the Humber and (c) the UK.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Applications for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) opened on Monday 20 April. By midnight 17 May 2020, 986,000 employers had submitted claims to HMRC representing 8m furloughed employments and £11.1bn.
This is a new scheme and HMRC are currently working through the analysis they will be able to provide based on the data available. HMRC will make the timescales for publication and the types of data available in due course.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate he has made of the number of small businesses renting premises where business rates are included as part of their rental agreement; and what steps he is taking to ensure that such businesses are able to access the Small Business Grants Fund.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
As of 1st May, Government has provided up to an additional £617m for Local Authorities in England to enable them to make grants payments to businesses in these circumstances.
This funding will be used by Local Authorities to create a Discretionary Grants Fund.
Local Authorities are responsible for defining precise eligibility for these funds. And businesses will need to apply to their Local Authority in order to receive grants – each LA will need time to create their own process.
However, it is our intention that the following businesses should be considered as a priority for these funds:
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the number of people paying Class 4 national insurance contributions in (a) Leeds East constituency, (b) Leeds and (c) Yorkshire.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The information requested is attached.
This is based on the Survey of Personal Incomes 2014-15. Constituency numbers are rounded to the nearest 100, and regional numbers to the nearest 1,000. Due to rounding the sum of numbers for Parliamentary constituencies may be different to regional numbers.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 4.13 of the Autumn Statement 2016, on the term convicted loan sharks, (a) what those offences were and (b) which agency has responsibility for prosecuting those offences.
Answered by Simon Kirby
The scheme referred to is at paragraph 3.45 of the Autumn Statement 2016. It is run by the England Illegal Money Lending Team, which has responsibility for taking action against loan sharks.
The Team prosecutes loan sharks under s23 Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, which provides that it is an offence for any person to carry on a regulated activity without permission (the relevant regulated activity being Article 60B of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Regulated Activities) Order 2001 (entering into regulated credit agreements)). Additionally, the Team prosecute offences under s327 and s329 Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.
Funds are recovered from convicted loan sharks by confiscation orders under Part 2 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what correspondence he has had with (a) the Competition and Markets Authority, (b) the Prudential Regulation Authority and (c) new entrant banks about the internal ratings-based approach and the standardised approach for risk weights in capital requirements regulation; and if he will place a copy of that correspondence in the Library.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin
The government is committed to increasing banking competition and meets with a wide range of institutions as part of the process of developing policy to help drive more competition.
We have already taken significant action to improve competition in banking. This includes:
Delivering the Current Account Switch Service and midata so customers are able to compare personal current accounts and switch where they see a better deal – simply, quickly and reliably;
Lowering barriers to entry and helping to establish the New Bank start-up Unit, making it quicker and easier for new banks to enter the market and compete effectively with the incumbents;
Creating the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) as a single, stronger competition regulator, to promote competition and ensure markets work well for consumers, businesses and the wider economy.
The government is also taking action by working with the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and the Bank of England to introduce a more proportionate prudential regime for smaller banks and building societies. The exchange of letters between the Economic Secretary and Andrew Bailey published in November 2015 highlights this work.
In its retail banking market investigation, the CMA provisionally found that banks on the standardised approach are at a competitive disadvantage in the provision of lower LTV mortgages compared to banks using internal models. It also stated that the capital requirements regime has the potential to impact on competition in retail banking in a range of areas. The government, working with the PRA and Bank of England will take forward the issues identified by the CMA.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of instituting a common standardised approach for calculation of risk weights in the capital requirements regulation for banks and building societies, including new entrant banks less than five years old.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin
The government is committed to increasing banking competition and meets with a wide range of institutions as part of the process of developing policy to help drive more competition.
We have already taken significant action to improve competition in banking. This includes:
Delivering the Current Account Switch Service and midata so customers are able to compare personal current accounts and switch where they see a better deal – simply, quickly and reliably;
Lowering barriers to entry and helping to establish the New Bank start-up Unit, making it quicker and easier for new banks to enter the market and compete effectively with the incumbents;
Creating the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) as a single, stronger competition regulator, to promote competition and ensure markets work well for consumers, businesses and the wider economy.
The government is also taking action by working with the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and the Bank of England to introduce a more proportionate prudential regime for smaller banks and building societies. The exchange of letters between the Economic Secretary and Andrew Bailey published in November 2015 highlights this work.
In its retail banking market investigation, the CMA provisionally found that banks on the standardised approach are at a competitive disadvantage in the provision of lower LTV mortgages compared to banks using internal models. It also stated that the capital requirements regime has the potential to impact on competition in retail banking in a range of areas. The government, working with the PRA and Bank of England will take forward the issues identified by the CMA.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the risks to financial stability from the European Commission's proposed regulatory framework for simple, transparent and standardised securitisation; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin
The Government welcomed the development of international and EU standards to revitalise the regulatory framework for securitisation by encouraging the use of simpler and more transparent products. We agree with the Bank of England that a well-functioning and stable securitisation market will benefit financial stability and the wider economy. We support the Basel standards for securitisation, set with the intention of enhancing financial stability, which see features such as tranching and synthetic structures as being legitimate activity. We also support the need for all securitisations to adhere to appropriate rules on transparency and investor due diligence, and that they must be afforded sensibly calibrated capital requirements. Following the financial crisis it was Basel, working with the Financial Stability Board and the International Organization of Securities Commissions which, set the 5 percent risk retention standard.
In the development and delivery of policy, Treasury Ministers and officials are in regular contact with relevant institutions, regulatory authorities, other governments, industry and other civil society groups including think tanks such as Finance Watch.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what correspondence his Department has had with (a) the Commissioner for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union and (b) UK banks on the European Commission's proposed regulatory framework for simple, transparent and standardised securitisation; and if he will place a copy of that correspondence in the Library.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin
The Government welcomed the development of international and EU standards to revitalise the regulatory framework for securitisation by encouraging the use of simpler and more transparent products. We agree with the Bank of England that a well-functioning and stable securitisation market will benefit financial stability and the wider economy. We support the Basel standards for securitisation, set with the intention of enhancing financial stability, which see features such as tranching and synthetic structures as being legitimate activity. We also support the need for all securitisations to adhere to appropriate rules on transparency and investor due diligence, and that they must be afforded sensibly calibrated capital requirements. Following the financial crisis it was Basel, working with the Financial Stability Board and the International Organization of Securities Commissions which, set the 5 percent risk retention standard.
In the development and delivery of policy, Treasury Ministers and officials are in regular contact with relevant institutions, regulatory authorities, other governments, industry and other civil society groups including think tanks such as Finance Watch.